Bushfires destroy valuable SA vineyards owned by Henschke

Some of the best wines in the country have been destroyed as bushfires consumed valuable vineyards owned by premier SA winery Henschke.

Stephen Henschke posted before and after pictures of the vineyard after the fire swept through. Picture: Instagram.

Valuable vineyards owned by premier South Australian winery Henschke around the Adelaide Hills have been utterly destroyed by the bushfires enveloping the region, turning to ash some of the best wines in the country and including some of the oldest pinot noir vines in the Adelaide Hills.

Fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke took to Instagram to break the news to his hundreds of thousands of fans, both in Australia and around the world, and posted a photo of the singed remains of his family winery’s Lenswood vineyard.

While Henschke’s machinery, sheds and equipment were also lost in the fires burning their way through some of Australia’s most picturesque and valuable wineries there were no reports of lives lost.

It has also been confirmed to The Australian that the jewel in Henschke’s crown, the single vineyard Hill of Grace label which is grown from a tiny vineyard in nearby Eden Valley was not affected by the fires.

The Henschke Hill of Grace has grown in stature in the last few years to rival the supremacy of Australia’s true luxury wine, Penfolds Grange, and in 2017 wine judge and industry doyen James Halliday named the Henschke Hill of Grace 2012 as his wine of the year.

The Henschke Hill of Grace in that vintage beat Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds Grange, to clinch the trophy, and although Mr Halliday gave the Hill of Grace and the 2012 Grange a near-to-perfect 99 points out of 100, he later decided to hand victory to Henschke.

Now Henschke’s vineyards in the Adelaide Hills are a smoking ruin and the family is turning its attention to helping neighbours with other wineries also severely damaged by the bushfires and then the Henschke family planning to rebuild.

“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your notes of concern regarding the Cudlee Creek bushfire that devastated many communities of the Adelaide Hills on Friday. We have now assessed the damage, which is significant and sadly will require a long-term replanting plan,’’ Mr Henschke and his wife Prue said in an Instagram post.

“These photos show the extent of the fire across our Lenswood vineyard. Riesling, chardonnay, grüner veltliner, pinot noir, merlot, cabernet, sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer all lost.”

The fires had also destroyed historic pinot noir vines.

“Sadly this includes some of the oldest pinot noir in the Adelaide Hills, planted by Tim Knappstein in 1983. Both of our sheds, machinery and equipment lost as well.

“Thank you to the CFS for their efforts in the worst conditions on Friday. Our thoughts are with our neighbours and friends, and the rest of the Adelaide Hills wine community who have been impacted as well.”

Tilbrook Estate, a small family vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, was also destroyed.

“I have had a lot of people say what can we do to help. Best thing at the moment is to come up to our place, bring some beers, talk and come up with a plan,’’ the owner of Tilbrook Estate said in his Instagram post.

“At the moment still trying to process it all. Our biggest problem is that we have lost our livelihood, which means we can’t pay our mortgage or other outgoings.”

Early and still unconfirmed reports claim that almost one third of the Adelaide Hills’ wine production have been wiped out by the fires. According to Wine Australia the Adelaide Hills are the 8th most popular domestic tourist destination among Australia’s wineries and 7th most popular for international tourists.

The Adelaide Hills is reported to produce $20 million worth of wine a year.